(Jamie)

"You came here to fight me," I say after recovering from the shock of his question. "And now you want to join my harem?"

"Yes," Light responds. "Is that a hard concept? Don't all of the enlightened Species have harems as a standard thing? Or have things changed in the thousand years since-or am I wrong?"

In the thousand years since Fairies last left their realm.

"We're going to have to talk about a lot of things," I tell him. "Also, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the age difference."

"What's wrong with it?"

"What's the normal age difference allowed in a relationship between Fairies?"

"If they have Access to the System, then they're a yes."

That complicates things.

"I like people around my age."

"Do I not appear to be around your age?"

Right now, yes. Your real form? No. In fact, you look like a little kid if I use Perspicacity. Well, not entirely Human as a kid, but still. And despite that, you're also seven centuries older than me, so even though you look my age now, I'm not entirely sure I'd be comfortable with anything.

"Being several centuries older than someone can be a turnoff," Cole speaks up. "Even if you look their age."

The Fairy looks disappointed.

"What will you do now?" I ask him.

"See if I can join your harem."

"No."

"Can I join your team?"

"You tried to kill me."

"I wanted to see who was superior," he states. "Due to you cheating after having your ass kicked, I am aware that I am the superior."

"You have more than seven centuries of life on me," I say. "And more than 400 Class Levels more than me. Of course you're the superior, you moron! How did you know about me, anyway?"

"Riddle mentioned that he made a Human with the Species Ultimate Skill a Paladin."

"You talk with him?"

"When he feels like it," the Fairy nods. "We were chatting the other day, and he mentioned that he made a new Paladin, and I was asking questions. Then I asked him where you were, so I could fight you and see who was better, and he said here. But then he wouldn't tell me who you were, just that I'd know you when I saw you, because you made waves. I didn't realize he meant it that way, but I suppose it's only natural, considering who we serve. Has he sent you on any Quests yet?"

"I got the impression he let us do whatever."

"Oh, he definitely does," he grins at me. "But he's also sent me on a bunch of Quests. It's fun. He never made me leave… he never made me stray too far from home, but they were always fun. So you're a Paladin of Hope, huh? Why'd he pick that for you? I'm a Paladin of Fun because I love having fun."

Wonderful.

"I don't give a damn about Species discrimination," I state. "And have brought hope to several members of varying Species that they might one day be accepted by the majority. And so he just threw it on me and made me the Paladin of Hope."

"Okay!" He says. "So is there anywhere good to eat? I'm starving. That fight worked up an appetite!"

"Why are you hard?" I ask. "You've been hard the entire time you're in Human form."

"Aren't Humans always hard?"

"No."

"Oh."

He stays hard.

I sigh, then start walking towards town, ignoring the people staring at the effects his powers had on the field. The fact that I was able to best him will likely increase my reputation here, as they'll probably forget I 'cheated'.

Light's mind seems to jump around a lot, and it doesn't take me long to figure out that he's just fascinated by all the new stuff he's experiencing. He also likes to have fun, which should be obvious considering his Class.

Light explains to me how I can manually set the Paladin Class to my Primary without dealing with the extra stuff, and I decide to do that. He also asks if I'm going to just hold onto the Die of Mystery I summoned when I pinned him to the ground, and when I tell him I haven't decided if I want to guide it or not, he tells me that I should guide it for something fun.

"I don't think that counts as 'fun'," I say.

"Please?" He begs with his eyes. "I wanna see it happen! If you don't, I will!"

Sighing, I cast the die. It rolls across the ground.

The Die of Mystery has decided… Everyone within 100 yards of you will float for 30 Seconds.

Everyone starts floating, and the Fairy giggles, spinning around slowly and doing small flips until the time runs out. He's probably the only one that lands gracefully, but that's probably because he was already floating to start with, and is still floating now.

I was at least able to land decently due to my reflexes, and Cole landed on all-fours, which I think was intentional on his part.

We continue on our way as Light giggles to himself. He's such a child, though from what I know of the stories of Fairies here and on Earth, Fairies tend to be natural pranksters and easily-amused. I can tell by his eyes that he's much more mature than a child.

We reach a restaurant that I like and are seated quickly. Once we've ordered, Light asks me how much I know about Die of Mystery.

"Alright," he says after I finish. "You're right in what it can do. However, there's a bit more to it than that. It has twenty faces, as you can tell. Each face has a numerical value – it's numbered one through twenty. If you roll a ten or lower, it subtracts the value equal to the difference between your Die of Mystery Skill Level and the number 10, and uses the new value for its result, meaning that the lowest value it can reach is negative eight.

"If you roll an eleven or higher," he says. "It adds on ten percent of your LCK value, rounded properly, to it, and uses the new value to determine what happens. A natural ten or lower earns you a bad effect, while a natural eleven or higher earns you a good effect.

"You're aware you can 'guide' the result by wanting something to happen or for it to affect something," he continues. "Which works only if the natural value isn't a nineteen or twenty. If the natural value is a nineteen, Die of Mystery will increase in Level, and if the natural value is a twenty, then Paladin will increase in Level.

"Once those are maxed-out," he says. "You'll gain pure Stat boosts, though I think there was a rumor of another Skill appearing at Level 10 Die of Mystery. Not sure if it's true or not.

"Also," he continues. "Most 'bad' effects are just goofy things, especially if you're doing it unguided. I once rolled a really bad roll, and everyone spoke backwards for a week. It was hilarious!"

"What are your Levels for Die of Mystery and Paladin of Fun?" I ask.

"Level 2 and Level 3, respectively."

And he's used it a ton of times? I raise an eyebrow.

"I rarely ever get rolls for them," he shrugs. "Though it really depends on your raw luck, and your the Stat for it, since it's just a die roll."

"Could Trickster have been, you know, just making stuff up when he explained it to you?"

"He could've," Light shrugs. "But I don't think he was. He normally doesn't lie to me."

"Okay," I suppose I'll take that. For now. "How many Skills do you have?"

"More than a hundred," he answers.

"How many are Ultimates?" He looks around nervously.

"The booths," I say. "Have enchantments to prevent conversations from being heard in them. Unless you come from the aisle, you won't hear it, and you need to be within two feet of the table to hear it if you aren't. Even the people sitting on the other side of us, if there were people in those booths, would not be able to hear us."

"Are you sure?" He looks skeptical.

"It's one of the reasons I like this restaurant," I nod. "I had it confirmed through an outside source."

That is, Max. He was able to decipher the magics and confirm their capabilities. It's one of the reasons I like the restaurant, and their food's improved since I became a patron, too, so that only added to it.

Then again, when serving a literal Demigod and a Human who has an absurd level of power, probably any restaurant would want to make sure they do their best to keep them as customers.

"I have three Ultimate Class Skills," he answers. "From Mastering three 'ultimate' Classes, or one from the highest-tier Class available to a set. I have two Ultimate Skills, which are obtained through hard work and dedication. Then I have the four Ultimate Rank Skills, obtained for each Rank Up. And finally, the Ultimate Species Skill, for a total of ten Ultimate Skills."

That's… impressive. Very, very impressive. I am impressed.

"And you gain 10 Stat Points to All Stats every time one of those goes up?"

"No," he answers. "They're all mastered, and only Ultimate Species Skills acquire that many. Ultimate Class Skills only gain three each Level, Ultimate Skills only gain five, and Ultimate Rank gain seven."

That would make it a total of 570 Stat Points to every Stat from his Ultimate Skills, if my math is correct. In addition to that, every Rank Up adds 25 Stat Points to All Stats, giving him another 100 Stat Points to every Stat from his current Four Ranks. That explains why his stats are so high, then.

"You used your Ultimate Skills against me in our fight, didn't you?"

"Indeed."

"Mind telling me what they are?" I ask, and he looks hesitant. "Okay, the only people who can hear us are aware of what you really are, Light, and everyone probably knows your a badass with lots of Skills, so you can just say it."

"Alright," he says, then pauses. "Food."

Our waiter returns with our food, sets it down, then checks to see if we need anything else before leaving.

"Okay," I say. "So what were they?"

"Remember how you hurt me?" He asks.

"And you healed immediately after?" I ask, and he nods. "Your Fairy Ultimate, right?"

"Nature's Health," he nods. "It increases my Health and Mana based on how much nature and ambient mana is around me. In that field, it was too absurdly high for you to actually permanently damage me, unless you were a ridiculously powerful being. There are environments where I become literally immortal, my Health becoming literally infinite."

Damn. That's one hell of an OP Skill. I can see why it's classified as an Ultimate Species Skill, and that power for it probably stems from him having Mastered it, but even without that, it probably only increased the number of places allowed for him to become immortal.

"When the spear hit the ground and killed the grass," I say. "You looked a little annoyed, and mentioned you hadn't meant to use that. Was that an Ultimate?"

"Jumping Death," he nods. "It's the Ultimate Class Skill for Dragoon, the spear-wielding jumping Class. It provides an instant-death to any target under a certain amount of Health, dependent on my STR attribute. Basically, if their remaining Health is less than nine percent per Level of the Skill than five times my STR attribute, it kills it instantly. I was trying to beat you, not kill you."

I'm glad for that. If he were going all-out, I probably would have died. The Skill would have failed against me, but it probably would have still hurt to be hit by the force of that attack without the Skill involved.

"The glows, when you attacked me with martial arts?"

"Two," he answers. "Dragon's Strike was the crimson glow that empowered the attacks with the might of a Dragon-"

"I was taking on the might of a Dragon?"

"And the blue glow enhanced my physical speed in a great burst based upon my present Mana," He continues. "That was Mana Charge. The former, Dragon's Strike, is the Ultimate Class Skill for Dragon Knight, while Mana Charge was an Ultimate Rank Skill."

He does know what 'holding back' means, right?

"I also used Lucky Strike a few times," he continues. "Which grants a bonus to my attacks based on a random number and the difference between our LCK stats and my overall LCK stat. That was one of my Ultimate Rank Skills. The final one I used during that is a passive, and it's an Ultimate Class Skill, for Mastering Archmage, the final of the magic-based Classes. Mana Conservation reduces the amount of Mana spent for all Skills by nine percent per Level, so I only spend ten percent of the normal Mana costs."

His Skills synergize with each other so well, he could probably solo Dragons without worry. Maybe even manage to take on the final Floor of that Dungeon… then again, even Tara gets yanked out by her father if she sets foot on it.

"I didn't get to use my others," he says. "But it's okay."

"What are they?"

"Heaven's Roar," he answers. "An Ultimate Skill, and the first that I actually learned myself. It's a powerful roar that's very damaging and paralyzing to those in its range. Shroud of Nature is the other Ultimate Skill, and it shrouds me in nature and makes it harder to hit me and notice me and know where I am.

"Then," he continues. "There are my other two Ultimate Rank Skills, Contract Master and Multitude of Contracts. The latter allows me to have an infinite number of familiars and tamed creatures, while the former prevents loopholes and such from being abused."

"You're a Summoner and Tamer?"

"And Warlock," he nods. "I like summoning Demons and playing pranks on them. Or using them for pranks. Those were actually my first two Ultimate Rank Skills. So what Classes do you have?"

I share them with him, and he examines them, thinking for a few minutes as we eat our food in silence. Cole probably feels like the third wheel here, as he doesn't really know what to say or do for this conversation.

"Got it," Light finally decides. "Why don't you try getting Exerciser?"

"What?"

"It's a physical Class," he explains. "You could both probably use it, actually. You just need to have a total Skill Level for exercising Skills of Level 5. Its subtle effect is increasing your benefits from all forms of exercise, but the Stats aren't half-bad."

"Ah," I say. "And I'm guessing that they won't be affected by my absurd Stats? Or would they?"

"What do you mean?"

"I have 1,475 STR."

"Wow!" He exclaims, eyes widening with excitement. "Let's arm-wrestle!"

He really likes competing, doesn't he? And I doubt he cares about who actually wins, which would be why Trickster made him a Paladin of Fun and not a Paladin of Games.

"One," I say. "Fairies have naturally weaker bodies than humans. Two, my STR is three hundred higher than yours. You'd be doomed to lose."

"I still wanna do it!" He exclaims.

I sigh, giving in.